


Report on Dominion Troop 522

by lyssajanet



Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mention of other major characters, Military, Spies, Three Banners War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21675610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyssajanet/pseuds/lyssajanet
Summary: A Pact spy's observations on the Dominion's secret weapon: a five foot two bosmer necromancer.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Report on Dominion Troop 522

**Author's Note:**

> basically i write about what te'a does in cyrodiil between the main quest and summerset through the eyes of someone who does not know who she is. check end notes for who the authors of the letters are

(A blood spattered letter found near the body a Dominion soldier with a black and red arrow through his eye. Attached to the arrow is a piece of parchment with only the word “SPY” written on it in a messy scrawl.)

* * *

**Report on the movements of Dominion Troop 522**

While my original assignment was simply to report on the movements and patterns of a suspiciously successful Dominion Troop to the Pact, I’ve found far more pressing, useful, and confusing information regarding one soldier in particular.

Known as “Thariel”, though potentially an alias (as apparent further down), she arrived in Cyrodiil just before the Dominion started winning multiple unwinnable battles while vastly outnumbered. The source of the troop’s victories is apparent by her extravagant and cliche attire alone: necromancy. 

Personally recommended for Dominion Troop 522 by the Aldmeri Dominion Queen Ayrenn herself, she gifted each member of her troop with anti-necromancy amulets on arrival to prevent their bodies from being raised if they objected to her methods. Very few actually wear them, showing their devotion to the Dominion even in death. While I have never fought alongside Ayrenn’s personal necromancer, I often hear drunken stories over the campfire of their victories. The necromancer hangs to the back of the field, keeping her team alive until enough Pact or Covenant soldiers have died before she can make a difference. Then the horrors begin.

She raises the dead of the other side and commands them to fight against the very alliance they served in life. Every one of their deaths means another soldier for the Dominion. Once she starts, the odds of the Covenant or Pact winning the battle decrease with every minute she is on the field. Within an hour, it becomes hopeless for the opposing alliance, even if the Dominion troop was vastly outnumbered to begin with. They simply need to hold the keep with whoever still lives until reinforcements arrive.

Now this alone would be enough to warrant extreme concern and potentially assassination orders on the necromancer. But there seems to be more to her that could prove her to be more useful alive than dead, or at least more to her than simply being Ayrenn’s personal necromancer. 

Even in the camp, she always wears a large monster skull type helm, with an opening for the lower half of her face and no apparent holes for visibility, yet that never impairs her movement or casting. I can only guess her to be bosmer by her height and lack of tail, but even her race is uncertain with that helm. No one has ever seen her without it - and I mean  no one . She gets her own private tent, bathes alone, and even wears it during meals. One might consider facial scarring or burns, but when combined with the answer she always gives when asked about her personal life or what she did before joining the war effort (a smirk and a whispered “it’s a secret~”), it seems that her identity must be kept a secret, for it would otherwise be recognizable. 

Additionally, for a soldier who does not speak about her past or her relationships, she receives a noticeable amount of letters from a variety of sources. Some of them come from official Dominion couriers coming from Reaper’s March and Northern Elsweyr, of which about half of them make her smile widely before composing herself and taking it to read in private. 

Some of them arrive when a small portal opens by itself in the camp and a letter falls out, before closing itself before anyone can react. Those she shakes her head at while smiling fondly through the mouth of her monstrous helm. There has been one instance where she was not in the camp when a portal opened. An overly curious soldier, presumably also being driven mad by the mystery that is their secret necromantic weapon, tried to open the letter. He recovered within a week of his injuries from the resulting explosion, and the necromancer had to spend all that time reassuring the commander that it was not an attack on the Dominion, simply a security measure taken by the letter’s author to ensure no one besides her read it. She greatly apologized to the soldier and offered to send his family gold as compensation. (Side note, perhaps we should consider this as a possible tactic for attacks?) 

And some of the letters arrive when an arrow comes flying out of nowhere and sticks itself in a tree near where the necromancer is standing. Always black and red of a vaguely familiar but unknown make, always with a letter attached to the shaft, always arriving when the necromancer is in the camp and sees it land. That sets the camp on edge, as it means there is someone nearby they cannot see with exceptional aim and a deadly weapon. The necromancer again assures the commander that it is a friend who simply does not want to be directly involved in the war effort, but helps nonetheless. Around a month ago, one of the soldiers found a dead Breton on the outskirts of the camp with one of those arrows through her eye. I would recommend looking for this archer, but I doubt they would be on our side.

This “Thariel” must be some important, high ranking, or noble bosmer within the Dominion, or have connections or a reputation that would be tarnished by the knowledge that she either serves in the Dominion, is a necromancer, or both. While stopping her on the battlefield must be a priority, I implore the Pact to put aside some resources into learning more about this necromancer and possibly those who write to her. If we can gain leverage over her, we could possibly turn her against the Dominion, a

(The letter ends here.)

**Author's Note:**

> Ayrenn and Razum-dar use the official couriers, but since Raz is Te'a's boyfriend, his letters are more romantic in nature and often make Te'a blush. Her father, Abnur Tharn, uses portals to deliver his letters, since an Imperial courier would be killed on sight if they arrived in the camp. The arrow letters are from Te'a's twin sister Niriel, a Dark Brotherhood assassin. Niriel was the one who killed the Pact spy before he could finish his report if you didn't figure that out.
> 
> check me out on tumblr @ partyatsanguines for more eso nonsense and occasionally calling tharn a thot


End file.
